Lesson 158: 위주 – Primarily, Mainly, Mostly

In this lesson, you will learn about another difficult word that can be used to make your sentences more complex. In this lesson, you will learn about 위주. Let’s get started.

위주 – Primarily, Mainly, Mostly

위주 is a noun that is most commonly used in two ways – as 위주로 and 위주의. In this lesson we will explore how both of these are used.

When used as 위주로, it is usually placed after a noun in a sentence to indicate that an action is primarily (or “mainly”) focused around that noun. The noun is usually placed before 위주 without any particle or way of describing it. For example:

이번 경연대회는 창의성 위주로 평가돼요
= This competition will be evaluated primarily on creativity

이 도시는 흔히 관광객 위주로 경제가 돌아가며 다양한 관광 명소가 있어요
= This city’s economy commonly revolves around tourists, with various attractions available

무거운 물건을 들어올리는 작업은 안전 위주로 진행되어야 해요
= The task of lifting heavy objects should be conducted primarily with safety in mind

If there must be a verb before it, it would have to be in some sort of noun form. In the example above, you saw 안전하다 (to be safe) used as its noun form 안전 to be used before 위주. You can also use ~기 (as introduced in Lesson 29). For example:

시험에서는 빈칸 채우기 문제 위주로 공부하는 것이 중요해요
= In exams, it is important to study primarily focusing on fill-in-the-blank questions

In the first two examples, you saw just one noun used before 위주. However, it is also common to string a bunch of nouns together to be used before 위주. The first usually “described” the next, which “describes” the next, which finally “describes” 위주. For example:

이 책은 과학적 의문 위주로 내용이 구성되어 있어요
= This book is structured primarily around scientific questions

이 프로젝트는 자원 절약 위주로 설계되었어요
= This project is designed primarily for resource conservation

그 학생은 차비 절약 위주로 통학 방법을 변경했어요
= The student changed their commuting method primarily to save on carfare

이번 행사는 음악 경연 위주로 진행돼요
= This event is organized primarily around a music competition

회사는 직원 복지 위주로 새로운 혜택을 마련했어요
= The company prepared new benefits primarily focused on employee welfare

당분간은 온라인 수업 위주로 학교가 운영될 예정이에요
= For the moment, the school is scheduled to operate primarily with online classes

독신자를 위한 주택 단지는 효율적인 공간 활용과 편의 시설 위주로 설계되었어요
The housing complex for singles was designed primarily focusing on efficient space utilization and amenities

위주의

In addition to simply using 위주 after a noun, it can be used after a noun to describe another noun. When this is done, the particle ~의 is typically attached to 위주, which has the same purpose as when it was attached to 경우 (Lesson 157) and which was first described back in Lesson 23).

Let’s look at an example. In the section above, you saw this sentence:

시험에서는 빈칸 채우기 문제 위주로 공부하는 것이 중요해요
= In exams, it is important to study primarily focusing on fill-in-the-blank questions

Here, it was the noun “questions” that the studying primarily focused on. However, look what you can do by placing 문제 after 위주 instead of before it:

이 시험은 빈칸 채우기 위주의 문제로 구성되어 있어 어휘력이 중요해요
= This exam is composed of questions primarily focused on filling in the blanks, making vocabulary skills crucial

As a grammar nerd, I find this really cool! Here, 구성되다 acts primarily on 문제 instead of 위주. The effect is that now you can use 문제 as a typical noun that you are used to.

Let’s look at another two examples:

회사는 직원 복지 위주로 새로운 혜택을 마련했어요
= The company prepared new benefits primarily focused on employee welfare

In a sense, I like to think of 위주 and the entire string of nouns before it as one unit with a translation of “primarily focused on noun noun.” This one unit can be used where appropriate. However, in a sentence where 위주 describes a noun:

회사는 직원 복지 위주의 정책을 마련하여 복지 향상에 힘쓰고 있어요
= The company is preparing policies primarily focused on employee welfare to enhance well-being

Here, the noun itself (정책 in this example) is the part that can be used where appropriate. I find this gives my sentences much more flexibility!

Here are a few more examples where 위주의 is used:

그는 해외 출장 위주의 업무로 인해 한국에 자주 드나들어야 해요
= He has to go in and out of Korea frequently due to work primarily focused on overseas business trips

물류 창고에서는 안전 규정 위주의 작업 절차가 필요해요
= In the logistics warehouse, work procedures primarily focused on safety regulations are necessary

That’s it for this lesson!